ELA 11 Mods 8,9 Monday March 29, 2010

 Self-Reliance Critical Lens

Homework: The following will be due Monday, April 5.  You will have class time today and tomorrow to get started.  We do not have class on Wednesday due to the half day and we have Career Day on Thursday.  Please plan ahead and start this ASAP so that you can ask any questions you have prior to Thursday.

Write a critical essay in which you discuss Sebastian Junger’s The Storm, Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, and John McPhee’s The Control of Nature: Atchafalaya from the particular perspective of the statement that is provided for you in the Critical Lens. In your essay, provide a valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it, and support your opinion using specific references to ideas and details from the two works.

            Critical Lens:

 ”Every man is, no doubt, by nature, first and principally recommended to his own care; and as he is fitter to take care of himself than of any other person, it is fit and right that it should be so.”

 -Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)

 Guidelines:

Be sure to

• Provide a valid interpretation of the critical lens that clearly establishes the criteria for analysis
• Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it
• Use Sebastian Junger’s The Storm, Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, and John McPhee’s The Control of Nature: Atchafalaya to support your opinion
• Use the criteria suggested by the critical lens to analyze the works we have read
• Avoid retelling the works we read. Instead, use specific references to appropriate ideas and details to develop your analysis
• Organize your ideas in a unified and coherent manner
• Specify the titles and authors of the works when you reference them
• Follow the conventions of standard written English

ELA 11 Mods 8,9 Monday March 22, 2010

THE CONTROL OF NATURE

Homework:  Please use the comment feature to give me a couple of sentences describing how Calder’s Circus relates to John McPhee’s Control of Nature.

In class today we watched Calder’s Circus.  Alexander Calder (the inventor of the mobile) was referenced in the McPhee’s story on page 20:

An Alexander Calder might revel in these motions—interdependent, interconnected, related to the flow at Old River. Calder would have understood Old River Control: the place where the work is attached to the ceiling, and below which everything—New Orleans, Morgan City, the river swamp of the Atchafalaya—dangles and swings.

Below find the video in two parts that we watched today.

 

 

ELA 11 Mods 8,9 Thursday March 18, 2010

CONTROL OF NATURE

Homework: Please read through the first break on page 19 (we left off at the bottom of page 17) in McPhee’s Control of Nature.

WWII Era PT Boat

ELA 11 Mods 8,9 Tuesday March 16, 2010

CONTROL OF NATURE

Homework:  Please use the comment feature below to explain the unintended consequences of the Swamp Act after reading the passage (from page 12) below:

With the approach of mid-century, the levees were averaging six feet—twice their original height—and calculations indicated that the flow line would rise. Most levee districts were not populous enough to cover the multiplying costs, so the United States Congress, in 1850, wrote the swamp and Overflow Land Act. It is possible that no friend of Peter had ever been so generous in handing over his money to Paul. The federal government deeded millions of acres of swampland to states along the river, and the states sold the acreage to pay for the levees. The Swamp Act gave eight and a half million acres of river swamps and marshes to Louisiana alone. Other states, in aggregate, got twenty million more. Since time immemorial, these river swamps had been the natural reservoirs where floodwaters were taken in and held, and gradually released as the flood went down. Where there was timber (including virgin cypress), the swampland was sold for seventy-five cents an acre, twelve and a half cents where there were no trees. The new owners were for the most part absentee. An absentee was a Yankee. The new owners drained much of the swampland, turned it into farmland, and demanded the protection of new and larger levees. At this point, Congress might have asked itself which was the act and which was the swamp.

Building the Eads Bridge

ELA 11 Mods 8,9 Thursday March 11, 2010

THE CONTROL OF NATURE

Homework:  Using the comment feature, please use the comment feature to explain the significance of the Mississippi (the boat) running aground on page nine of John McPhee’s The Control of Nature.  The quote is:

The unexpected happens – unthinkable, unfortunate, but not unimaginable.  At first with a modest lurch, and then with a more pronounced lurch, and then with a profound structural shudder, the Mississippi is captured by the Atchafalaya.  The mid-American flagship of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers had run aground.

Please note the conversation that we are having regarding the fact that the author sets up the conflict between man and nature, but then begins to question the “un-naturalness of humans” and the way they make decisions.  The many forces that come together in the natural world to move the Mississippi River are mirrored by the many forces of humanity coming together on a way to stop it.  The “nature” of human group decision-making is up for discussion in this piece and in class.

ELA 11 Mods 8,9 Monday March 8, 2010

THE CONTROL OF NATURE

Homework:  Please reread the first three pages of John McPhee’s work.  If you are having any trouble understanding, please let me know.

I have also posted a short video that explains some of the measures taken to control where the banks of the Mississippi occur.  Listen to how the engineers and US Army Corps officials talk about they Mississippi management.  What can we tell about their assumptions?

ELA 11 Mods 8,9 Wednesday March 3, 2010

THE CONTROL OF NATURE

Homework: Please use the comment feature below to write a paragraph that describes an experience that you have had involving a body of water.  This kind of story is called an anecdote.

Today we began John McPhee’s Atchafalaya, which is the first part of a larger work called The Control of Nature.   Below are some videos taken of the Old River flood control structures that we discussed today.

 

 

 

 

 

ELA 11 Mods 8,9 Monday March 1, 2010

INTO THIN AIR/THE STORM/CONTROL OF NATURE

Homework: For tomorrow, please use the comment feature to submit a paragraph that discusses the justification of Captain Tyne’s decision to leave Gloucester in October to catch swordfish.   As we did in our discussion today in class, you should discuss the mitigating factors (information we need to know before judging) that might make the decision justified, or any damning information that would lead us to question the decision.

ELA 11 Mods 8,9 Thursday February 25, 2010

INTO THIN AIR/THE CONTROL OF NATURE/THE PERFECT STORM

No Homework

Below, please find the notes from the last few days of discussion which focused on the essential questions from the previous posts.

 

ELA 11 Mods 8,9 Wednesday February 24, 2010

THE STORM/INTO THIN AIR/CONTROL OF NATURE

Homework: Please finish reading The Storm for tomorrow.

We spent a good portion of today talking (or ranting, if you prefer) about the essential questions from yesterday’s post and the answers we might be starting to construct.  Several of you identified that human nature can look conflicted at times, and I think it was fertile ground to cover.  Again, one of the most important reasons for taking English is your ability to recognize, understand, and analyze the narratives that are being offered and enacted in the world around you.  Like these stories, they are never simple or one-sided.

A couple of things to think about…

• The content of English, like understanding metaphor (Is a mountain just a mountain even when it is Everest?), is vital to being able to delve deeper into your life.  What are your mountains?
• You need to be advocating for yourself, and that cannot happen with you passively sitting in class.  Ask some questions!